Meanwhile, I long very much to compare the paper of the Vie
Moderne with that which I bought from Smulders. S.'s is very
expensive, 1.75 guilders a sheet, but it is pleasant to work
on.

You see, I scratched this sheet as simply as possible. I
shall be quite satisfied if there is something in it which
reminds you of the old lithographs from the period when there
was in general more enthusiasm for this branch of art than
there is now.

I can get a hundred prints for 5 guilders, and for a little
more the stone becomes my property.

Is this worth while, do you think? I should love to make
more of them. For instance, a series of about thirty
figures.

But in the matter of printing, I must first know your
opinion.

But this is what I should like: if we could show, without a
third party's intermediary, a series of about thirty pages, not
too elaborate, but vigorously done, which we had got printed at
our own expense. This would give us more prestige in the eyes
of the people whom we shall need later, namely the editors of
the magazines. But in business matters you see more clearly
than I, and sometime we shall talk it over together.

Do try to give me all the information you can about the
process. On what must one work with autographic ink? Can
everything be printed that is drawn with autographic ink?
Etc.

If at all possible, do not send me the money later than the
tenth, for I have had some extra expenses because of one thing
and another.

I want to add a few words to this letter.

I think Buhot, for instance, will be able to tell you
something constructive about the technique more clearly with
this sheet in hand.

Wouldn't it be great if this proved a success? But for me,
what is a hundred times more important than the process is the
drawings themselves. I work with the model as much as my purse
allows. For you understand one must have ammunition in the form
of studies once one starts illustrating if one wants to
continue it for any length of time. And more important things
will follow from it. So I cannot stress this enough: it is of
more importance to me to have a supply of drawings on
hand than to hurry to get employment, though such would be
quite welcome to me.

But if they do not readily accept them, well, nothing's
lost, and I think that later I shall get better results with
the larger stock of drawings. Also because I shouldn't wonder
if the need for draughtsmen became more and more manifest.

I am very sorry that I did not know this process before.
When I was in Brussels, I tried to find employment with some
lithographer, but was rebuffed everywhere. I asked there for
any kind of work, as I only wanted to see something of
lithography and especially to learn. But they didn't want
people like that.

Simmonneau and Fouvey were the least unwilling. They said
that the young men they had tried to instruct had given them
little satisfaction, and business was so slack that they had
enough employees. I went on and mentioned De Groux's and Rop's
lithographs, but they said, Yes, but such draughtsmen do not
exist any more. The impression I received there and in other
establishments was that lithography was definitely dying
out.

However, this new invention proves that they are trying to
revive it.

What beautiful things have been lithographed - Charlet,
Raffet, Lemud, besides the others whom we talked about
recently.

Last night I looked over the Gavarnis with renewed
pleasure.

I hope you see from this specimen that I am very eager to
try my best to make something.

I wrote you, didn't I, how I came to make this as a result
of my telling Smulders what you wrote me about that paper, and
his saying that he still had some of it in stock?

He seemed rather astonished when I came back with a drawing
a few hours after I had bought it.

Do you want another copy with a wider margin?

I have just finished drawing two diggers.

If this size is too large (but I hardly think so, as it is
rather vigorously drawn) I could - but first I must know how to
erase something on that paper - reduce them by a half or a
third without losing accuracy, namely by means of
quadrangles.

Well, we'll see about this.

At the same time you see on this sheet one of the studies
which I have several of and which I wrote you about.

At this time, Vincent was 29 year old

Source:Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written c. 6-8 November 1882 in The Hague. Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison, number 243.URL: http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/11/243.htm.